Fr. Scott began his homily with the lyrics of a song by John Prine:
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose.”
The sorrowful words left you thinking, “What a waste!”
Then came the true story a dying soldier during the Viet Nam War, who, though not a Catholic, asked for the Church’s blessing from the priest by his side. When a man is close to death, and this is his desire, it is one the Church gladly honors. The soldier said to the priest, “Father, don’t let that oil go to waste.” The priest didn’t waste a drop as he anointed the man at death’s door.
Father Scott was saying that in life we make choices that bear on how we end. This particular morning, in the closing days of Lent, Father implored, “Don’t waste Lent! Let’s make it last our entire lives; until we breathe our last breath.”